Follow this guide to perform searches for any words in the subject, body, attachments, sender name, recipients of MSG and EML files. Searching content and attachments of EML and MSG files saved to network share and local drive.

Search basics

• The search tool uses wildcard matching searches when you type in a number, word or phrase in the Search box at the top of the message list. For example, if you type mail into the Search box, it will return messages that contain mail, Mail, gmail, and E-mails. By default, searches are case-insensitive. To make your search case-sensitive, check the checkbox Match case in Search options.
• When you type specific words to include in the search, software scans both email messages and embedded email attachments (.msg, .eml files).
• When you type in an email address, the search tool will return all messages that contain that email address anywhere in the sender name, subject, message body, or attachments. To limit your search results to emails from an email address, type from:sender@email.com in the search box.

Search MSG files

There are a few ways to perform the search inside .msg and .eml files. Instant search and Built-in filters helps you quickly find emails in .msg and .eml files without Outlook.

Instant search

Search text in visible grid columns only and draws a highlight box around any substring that matches it’s given text.

1. Click search field drop down (in the upper-right) and go to Search Options...
2. Select Instant Search and Highlight the words that I search for, click Ok.
3. Type the search words in the search field and press Enter.
4. Results will be displayed in the search window as they're found.

Built-in filters

MSG EML Viewer provides you with a number of built-in search filters. Based on your preference, you can use predefined Filter Email criteria by clicking dropdown and selecting one of the folowing: Unread, Has Attachments and etc.

Alternatively, you can right click on a column's header, a Filtering menu item will be presented. Select one or more distinct values from that column. When click "Apply", only those rows that have one of the chosen values for that column will be displayed.

Advanced search inside MSG files

In addition to searching for different words, phrases and date range, advanced search allows you to use various boolean operators, punctuation and keywords to narrow your search results.

1. Click search field drop down (in the upper-right) and go to Search Options...
2. Select Advanced Search and click Ok.
3. Type the search query in the search field and press Enter.
4. Results will be displayed in the search window as they're found.

Search reference tables

The following table shows you some examples of searches you might find useful. In addition to these examples, you can use AND, OR, NOT, ALL, ATLEASTONE, NEITHER, NOTALL, ?, *, <, >, =, and other operators to refine your search. Operators should be typed in uppercase letters.

Using Regular Expressions

When searching for a text string that contains wildcards (*, ?) or white spaces, the software automatically converts them into their equivalent regular expression patterns. Additionally, a minimal set of characters (\, +, |, {, [, (,), ^, $, ., #) in your search query is replaced with their escape codes. To match a character with special meaning such as (*, ?, "), you need to use an escape sequence prefixed with a backslash (\).

Use the @ special character to initiate a regex search with your specific regular expression pattern. The @ special character serves as a verbatim identifier, indicating that a string literal is to be interpreted verbatim.

Please note that while most regular-expression searches can be executed very quickly, it's important to be aware that regular expressions can be constructed in a way that consumes arbitrary amounts of time and memory during processing.

See Also